The subject of this provisional patent application relates generally to grills for cooking, and more particularly to such grills configured to operate on or utilize multiple different fuels.
Applicant(s) hereby incorporate herein by reference any and all patents and published patent applications cited or referred to in this application.
By way of background, cooking food by grilling is a common practice using a variety of tools, utensils, appliances, and the like, whether indoor or outdoor. Any such grill on which food is cooked, at a high level, generally comprises a cooking surface, such as a grate, griddle, or other such surface on which the food is typically directly placed and some source of heat beneath the cooking surface.
In most grilling applications, the source of heat for cooking whatever food item is placed on the cooking surface falls into one of two general categories: (1) solid fuels; and (2) liquid fuels. Or, as more commonly referred, there is the more traditional “charcoal grill” and the more recent “gas grill,” respectively. A “charcoal grill” is actually but one example of a grill that heats based on ignition or burning of a “solid fuel,” with wood and other combustible or flammable substances also fitting within this category; sometimes a variety of solid fuels are employed together for flavoring, smoking, or other desired effects, such as adding hickory chips to a charcoal fire. In the category of “liquid fuel” grills, this would include propane and other such grills that are commonly equipped with one or more burners having a supply line for connection to a liquid fuel tank (i.e., “propane tank”) and related controls for metering the liquid fuel to the burner and thus controlling the heat produced or cooking temperature. As referred to throughout, a “liquid fuel” is to be understood as both liquid and gaseous fuels or as any combustible substances that are not solid and are thus able to flow, irrespective of whether such “liquid fuel” happens to be in liquid or gaseous form or state at a particular temperature or pressure and other factors.
For reasons of convenience, such as ease of starting the grill or fire and less messy use and clean up, and of more accurate control of cooking temperature, as well as other accessories such as additional burners for boiling or simmering, gas grills, or grills that operate on a liquid fuel source, have become quite popular in recent years. However, at least one tradeoff is the perceived downside of gas grills not providing as much flavor to the food as compared to food cooked over an open flame based on “solid fuels” such as charcoal and wood that can add a variety of smoky flavors to the cooked food.
Accordingly, efforts have been made to overcome the deficiencies of both gas and charcoal grills, or grills that operate on either liquid or solid fuel, by finding ways to combine both fuel sources in a single grill so as to effectively get “the best of both worlds.” One such multi-fuel grill proposed by inventors Faulk and Thomas as set forth in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0234308 dated Sep. 20, 2012 is directed to a grill system that includes a grill frame and a cooking surface attached to the grill frame. The grill system also includes a solid fuel compartment positioned proximate to the cooking surface. The grill system additionally includes a burner positioned below the solid fuel compartment. Cooking may be accomplished by alternately using only the burner, using only solid fuel placed in the solid fuel compartment, and using both the burner and the solid fuel placed in the solid fuel compartment to heat a common area of the cooking surface without modifying an arrangement of the solid fuel compartment and the burner.
What is still needed and has heretofore been unavailable is a more effective and simplified multi-fuel grill having improved features. Aspects of the present invention fulfill these needs and provide further related advantages as described in the following summary.